We were busy this weekend starting Friday. We spent some time with the Orphanage Director (Vera). We asked what we could do for the orphanage. She wanted a curtain for a stage that they use to do small productions and some help buying some English books. We gave her a personal gift and she was more than grateful. She also said we could have Irina the entire 10 days after court. Wow! We found out that she, too, was an orphan and from the same orphanage... shocking. Her son is a pro soccer player somewhere in Ukraine. Now we understand where the compassion comes from.
Court is Tuesday. Debbie will leave by train Wednesday morning for Kyiv and fly home this week. The 10 days ends on a Friday (5/3) and the decree goes into effect Saturday. That will make it 12 days before we can get the new birth certificate and passport (couple of day venture with signatures, notary and stamps). Then we can go to Kyiv for the medical and visa at the US embassy. There happens to be two, 2 day holidays (5/1 & 5/2 - May day and 5/9 & 5/10 - Veterans day) that could become more than 2 days depending... We would love to be coming home by 5/11 at the latest, but that is not a given at this point.
We were able to bring Ira back with us Friday night and keep her for the weekend. Before we left the orphanage, we presented her #1 teacher with a gift (portable washing machine she wanted). She loved it and had all the kids stand around for pictures. Saturday, we went to see her grandfather and presented some gifts (new color TV and a new chain saw). He was very happy to see us and overwhelmed. I put the saw together and demoed the proper use, etc. He brought out a couple of logs and we cut them like butter!. Not only is he excited but felt he could make money with the forestry department in the summer helping to clear wood in the forest behind his property. We were "treated" to a very humbling experience when we went into his 2 room home. It was beyond description and hard to believe. No running water or indoor plumbing of any kind. We were all invited to visit his mother (Ira's great grandmother) in the village. She is 90 years old. What a sweet, kind woman. She was most pleased that we are adopting Ira. Her home was also humbling. These people live at the very bottom of the economic scale but are proud and hard working. Most labor we do is with machines, they are done here by hand. We ate on the way back, Ira did some more English homework & listened to some Russian music. Today we tried to do some more shopping in this gigantic shopping indoor/outdoor mall to get some more clothes for Ira. We bought a few things so I could provide a change of clothes while we are together for the 10 days and return home. We will go to Donetsk for most of the 10 days (4.5 hours away). It's a big city and with a super sized soccer stadium (the owner is a billionaire).
Court is Tuesday. Debbie will leave by train Wednesday morning for Kyiv and fly home this week. The 10 days ends on a Friday (5/3) and the decree goes into effect Saturday. That will make it 12 days before we can get the new birth certificate and passport (couple of day venture with signatures, notary and stamps). Then we can go to Kyiv for the medical and visa at the US embassy. There happens to be two, 2 day holidays (5/1 & 5/2 - May day and 5/9 & 5/10 - Veterans day) that could become more than 2 days depending... We would love to be coming home by 5/11 at the latest, but that is not a given at this point.
We were able to bring Ira back with us Friday night and keep her for the weekend. Before we left the orphanage, we presented her #1 teacher with a gift (portable washing machine she wanted). She loved it and had all the kids stand around for pictures. Saturday, we went to see her grandfather and presented some gifts (new color TV and a new chain saw). He was very happy to see us and overwhelmed. I put the saw together and demoed the proper use, etc. He brought out a couple of logs and we cut them like butter!. Not only is he excited but felt he could make money with the forestry department in the summer helping to clear wood in the forest behind his property. We were "treated" to a very humbling experience when we went into his 2 room home. It was beyond description and hard to believe. No running water or indoor plumbing of any kind. We were all invited to visit his mother (Ira's great grandmother) in the village. She is 90 years old. What a sweet, kind woman. She was most pleased that we are adopting Ira. Her home was also humbling. These people live at the very bottom of the economic scale but are proud and hard working. Most labor we do is with machines, they are done here by hand. We ate on the way back, Ira did some more English homework & listened to some Russian music. Today we tried to do some more shopping in this gigantic shopping indoor/outdoor mall to get some more clothes for Ira. We bought a few things so I could provide a change of clothes while we are together for the 10 days and return home. We will go to Donetsk for most of the 10 days (4.5 hours away). It's a big city and with a super sized soccer stadium (the owner is a billionaire).
Sharon will be heading back to Kyiv tomorrow and will be home Tuesday. Now we have to clean up the mess of lonely single men she has left behind with broken hearts.
We have a lot more unbelievable pictures. We will put them all online (Snapfish) when we get home.
Pic 1 - In the woods with Ira and grandfather; Pic 2 - Orphanage Director (Vera); Pic 3 - Chainsaw demo; Pic 4 - Ira, grandfather, great aunt (grandfather's sister), great grandmother
1 comment:
Dale & Deb,
We are blessed to be able to follow along with you through your blog. Even though the wait is long you will have precious memories of Ira's homeland. It is amazing how God works...His hand is evident in your journey to adopt your daughter. We look forward to seeing you all back in Williamsburg. Hurry home...Nicky is ready to play golf and go to work!
Love,
The Schweickert's
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